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Archives: Dispatches

All Lingua Sinica Dispatches

The National

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Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Port Moresby, The National claims to be Papua New Guinea’s top-selling weekday English language newspaper. Owned by Malaysian multinational Rimbunan Hijau, a major logging corporation controlled by businessman Tiong Hiew King, the publication operates five offices in the cities of Lae, Mount Hagen, Kokopo, Madang, and Goroka. As one of Papua New Guinea’s two major daily newspapers, alongside the Post-Courier, The National operates with both print and online editions.

Ministry of Communication, Information Technologies, and Media of Burundi

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The Ministry of Communication, Information Technologies, and Media of Burundi is the primary government body overseeing telecommunications, broadcasting, and digital development in the East African nation. The ministry supervises key state enterprises, including the National Telecommunications Office (ONATEL), the National Postal Authority, and the national broadcaster Radio Television Nationale du Burundi. The ministry sets policies and regulations for telecommunications and information technologies development, implementing Burundi’s National ICT Development Policy (2010-2025) to promote digital transformation.

The Multimedia Group

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The Multimedia Group is Ghana’s largest independent media and entertainment company, operating six radio stations, three digital platforms, and the country’s first free-to-air multi-channel television network. Founded in 1995 by entrepreneur Kwasi Twum, a past President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters’ Association (GIBA), with 12 employees, the company now employs approximately 600 staff and reaches audiences across Ghana and beyond through brands including Joy FM, Adom FM, Multi TV, and platforms MyJoyOnline.com and AdomOnline.com. The organization has established itself as an independent voice reporting on corruption and social issues while supporting local communities through educational and healthcare initiatives. Multi TV, launched in 2009, extended media access to remote areas previously without coverage and exports Ghanaian programming across Africa and parts of Europe. The company positions itself as sub-Saharan Africa’s largest media entity.

The Filipino-Chinese Amity Club

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The Filipino-Chinese Amity Club (菲華聯誼總會) is a Philippines-based overseas Chinese community organization. It was founded in 1974, one year before the normalization of China-Philippines diplomatic relations. The Club is described as a “patriotic organization” (愛國團體) that has operated “under the strong support of the Chinese embassy in the Philippines” (在中國駐菲使館的大力支持下), regularly inviting Chinese delegations to visit and organizing trade missions to China, including to China’s import and export fair in Canton. The Club published Lianyi Weekly (聯誼週刊) — or “Friendship Weekly” — in 1978, which later became The World News (菲律賓世界日報), which now advertises itself as the Philippines’ largest Chinese-language daily. Both the language of “frIendship” in the original publication title and the reference to “amity” in the club’s name suggest a close relationship with what China calls “united front work,” he effort to cultivate loyalty and political alignment among overseas Chinese communities and foreign elites in service of the Chinese Communist Party’s strategic interests abroad. In October 2022, the Club hosted a study session promoting the Chinese Communist Party’s annual legislative session, the 20th National Congress, which cites the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines. In May 2023, it was awarded the “Light of the Chinese Community” (華社之光) title at the 10th Conference for Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations （第十屆世界華僑華人社團聯誼大會) in Beijing –  an event co-hosted by China’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which since 2018 has functioned as an external name of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. The Club has branches across the Philippines, including in Cebu, Central Luzon, and Davao, and its stated mission includes promoting China-Philippines friendship and Chinese cultural preservation among the overseas Chinese community.

Chubun

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Chubun, a Japanese Chinese-language weekly publication, claims to be “Japan’s largest and most influential” Chinese-language newspaper since its September 1992 founding. According to its own “About Us” page, the outlet describes itself as maintaining an “overseas Chinese perspective” with focus on Sino-Japanese relations and Chinese community news, while covering international affairs, economics, and culture. The publication says it has “evolved from print to embrace digital media” and collaborates with Japanese mainstream outlets to “bridge cultural divides.” Chubun characterizes its readership as spanning “academics, business leaders, students, and Japanese learners of Chinese” and asserts it has established itself as a “vital communication channel between China and Japan,” claiming to be “frequently cited by media across Greater China.” The site design of Chubun is oddly old-fashioned, full of content components including, as of July 2025, a Covid-19 survey along the left-hand margin. Much of the featured content has clear affinities with official state media talking points. Featured videos like this one, posted to the publication’s YouTube account, advertise overseas Chinese association activities that seem aligned with the PRC government.

World Tourism Organization

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The United Nations World Tourism Organization, rebranded as UN Tourism in 2023, is a specialized UN agency headquartered in Madrid, Spain, that promotes responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism worldwide. Established in 1975, it serves as a global forum for tourism policy and research, encouraging competitiveness, innovation, education, investments, and digital transformation in the tourism sector. The organization operates with 160 member states, six associate members, and over 500 affiliate members, conducting business in six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Notable non-members include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, with several countries having withdrawn from membership over different periods. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism represented one in ten global jobs, with international arrivals reaching 1.5 billion in 2019.

China-Russia Media Dialogue Focuses on Telling Stories of Bilateral Friendship

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The China-Russia Media Dialogue Forum was held in Beijing on July 31, 2023, bringing together representatives from more than 20 Chinese and Russian media outlets to discuss how to “tell stories of China-Russia friendship in the new era” (講好新時代中俄友好故事). Organized by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the forum featured representatives from Russian state-run outlets including Rossiyskaya Gazeta, TASS, and RT alongside counterparts from the official People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and the China Media Group (CMG), the state-run media conglomerate under the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department. The two sides, said a readout on the session, shared stories of bilateral cooperation — including joint efforts to fight Covid-19 and exchanges of children from disaster areas. CPAFFC Vice President Yan Dong (鄢東) said media exchanges are a key platform for promoting bilateral friendship, noting that cooperation had yielded “abundant results” in recent years under the strategic guidance of both heads of state. The notion of “telling stories” is a direct reference to Xi Jinping’s policy on “external propaganda” (外宣), centered on the notion of “telling China’s story well” (講好中國故事), which was laid out during a speech in August 2013.

Matichon

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Matichon is a major Thai-language daily newspaper founded by progressive writers in 1978, when Thailand was emerging from authoritarian rule following the October 6, 1976 Massacre. The newspaper positions itself as a quality, upmarket publication with a strong focus on politics, distinguishing itself from sensationalist mass-circulation papers. With a circulation of approximately 120,000 in 1997, Matichon became one of Thailand’s most politically influential newspapers alongside Thai Rath. Since the late 2000s, the publication has faced criticism for alleged pro-Red Shirt bias and controversies regarding editor dismissals and a bribery investigation by the National Press Council of Thailand, for which the paper resigned from the council in protest. The newspaper is owned by Matichon Public Company Limited and operates within the larger Matichon Group, which includes sister publications Khaosod and Prachachat Business. The company maintains both print and online operations, with Matichon Online having a separate editorial board from the print edition.

Ambassador Promotes GCI in Sweden’s NewsVoice

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On September 20, 2025, Cui Aimin (崔愛民), China’s ambassador to Sweden, published a signed article in the Swedish online media outlet NewsVoice to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, as well as the 80th anniversary of China’s supposed role — a more recently developed and misleading narrative — in co-founding the United Nations alongside the rest of the world. Called “Improving Global Governance, Building a Better Future Together,” the article entirely disregards the historical fact that the People’s Republic of China had not yet been established at the time. In fact, it was the Republic of China, currently situated in Taiwan, that took part in founding the UN. In the article, Cui also strongly promoted Xi Jinping’s Global Governance Initiative (GCI), put forward in September 2025 at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, which he said would advance open cooperation under this framework. He further criticized the United States as a unilateralist and a bully of the international order. In closing, Cui expressed his willingness to work together with Sweden to promote world peace and dialogue.